Main Line Native Heads To China On Scholarship

A Main Line native and Dartmouth College junior has been awarded a prestigious scholarship and that scholarship set her to China to experience Chinese culture and language for two months.

Emily Carr, a Bryn Mawr native and graduate of Academy of Notre Dame de Namur, was awarded a Critical Language Scholarship and left for Xi’an, China on June 13, the college announced.

A government major minoring in French and Chinese, Carr began studying Chinese as a sophomore.

“I already spoke French coming into Dartmouth, and I wanted to learn a non-Western language because I wanted that different worldview,” she said. “I feel like you can’t really understand a culture and a people unless you speak the language. I ended up picking Chinese because a lot of security policy and international relations right now are focused on China. I thought Chinese would be the most important language that I could learn for being involved in international relations and for helping to build that mutual understanding.”

The scholarship is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

It is part of a government program aimed at training American students in one of 14 languages that are “less commonly taught in U.S. schools, but are essential for America’s engagement with the world,” according to a State Department press release.

Carr is one of just 550 students from U.S. colleges and universities to receive the competitive award.

This isn't Carr's first trip to China however: she did a study abroad program in Beijing in the past.

In her trip this summer, she will be living with a Chinese roommate and taking 20 hours of language classes a week for two months, the college said.

Congratulations and good luck, Emily Carr!

Image via Dartmouth College